LifeDev

I have to confess something. If I could romantically become involved with a web app, Basecamp (aff) would be getting some flowers and chocolates from yours truly. I know, I know… I’ve been yapping a lot about the project management software lately, but the more I play with it the more I can see benefits for using it other than project management.

Here’s an example: I’ve been working on a web app for quite some time now, and I’ve kind of hit the point where I need to buckle down and git ‘er done. However, there’s a snag: I hate working on it. I’ve been looking at the thing for the past couple of months without blinking. The project had become stale for me, and something had to be done before I became completely depressed and started downing gallons of ice cream while watching Seinfeld reruns. Naturally, I turned to the David for help.

I decided the best course of action was to take some of my own medicine and start using GTD principles to sort my enormous mound of to-do lists in Basecamp. I’ve been using Basecamp for over a year, and the layout of my to-do lists were still set up in the initial crappy, helter-skelter system. The tasks were organized basically into five lists: Pre-launch, Launch, Later, Someday, and Bugs. For those who are developing a web app, let me be the first to tell you that this is possibly the WORST way to set up to-do lists. If you hate yourself, you’ll set it up this way. Ugh. Anyway, I started breaking each action down into it’s own list, and putting the next actions below it. What I found next was incredible.

“I’m bringing sexy progress back…”

Just by rolling up my sleeves and gettin’ dirty with the actions, I was freeing a lot of the stress associated with them. Now each action was meticulously laid out with all of the next actions below it. I could now mindlessly navigate through each list and knock them off, instead of having to think about what to do next. Not only that, but I can give a better time estimate of how long each action is going to take by seeing how many “next actions” are below it. It’s an all-together good feeling when you regain more control of your project via smart organization.
Mind Games

Aside from re-gaining control, spicing your project up with GTD can trick your mind into thinking it’s doing more. Take my example. Once I broke every action down into a list, it made for a much larger page. I now had a bunch of smaller lists instead of a few long lists. So whenever I finish an action and delete an entire list, I clear up a couple inches of literal screen space. With the older method, only a fraction of an inch is cleared by ticking off an item.

When there’s more action involved managing the project (ie crossing items off, deleting whole lists at a time), your brain visually sees the progress, which explains why this method is crazy-good for your productivity. There is much more of a relieving sensation linked to slaying an entire list in 10 minutes than taking the same amount of time and only ticking one measly item off.

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

Needless to say, once I completely inspected, changed, and broke down my lists, I instantly saw that the project was a lot closer to launch than I had previously thought. With the end in sight, it’s been much easier to work on it steadily, and it has given me the much-needed kick in the pants to finish the dadgum thing. So if you’re ever needing motivation for finishing a project that’s been hanging around for two long, re-evaluate your project management setup. It’s more important than you think.

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